NN: How do you define the term "nanotechnology?"

There has always been an argument around the definition. Nanotechnology at its simplest consists of manipulating materials precisely at the molecular or atomic level. However, the disagreement centers on how sophisticated we can get at such manipulation: Can we do it in three dimensions, can we program small machines to self-replicate, and can we instruct those self-replicating machines to build other more complex ones?

—Douglas Mulhall is a leading nanotechnology journalist and onetime award-winning documentary filmmaker and broadcast executive who has appeared often on nationally syndicated talk shows. Visit calcify.com

NN: How can the public help insure that nanomedicine inspired diagnostics and treatments are shared among the entire world's population, in a timely fashion?

By speaking up today. It's urgent that decision makers and policy influencers begin taking seriously the predicted societal impacts of advanced nanotechnology. Our only hope of being adequately prepared is through detailed investigations made well in advance.
—Mike Treder, Center for Responsible Nanotechnology

NN: Projecting out 25 years, and given the rate at which we're understanding the science of the nanoscale, what is your vision for humanity as it relates to the use of nanorobots?

In 25 years, humanity will have begun gaining experience with the regular use of simple medical nanorobots. Almost every month, people will hear news of yet another disease being targeted and eliminated from common concern -- just as today, it seems that every month or so, we hear news of yet another familiar species of plant or animal that has had its genome sequenced. Most of us do not have most diseases, so after awhile the conquest of new diseases will become routine, even boring, to most, like the last of the Moon landings in the early 1970s to many people.
—Robert A. Freitas Jr., J.D. Author of Nanomedicine